Rose Henderson began her undergraduate studies at Alabama State in Montgomery in 1952.
Three years into Henderson’s studies, Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus. Jo Ann Robinson, an English professor at Alabama State, had been prepping for a boycott of the segregated bus system as president of the local Women's Political Council. Park’s arrest acted as a catalyst. The boycott continued for 13 months, ending when the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated bus seating unconstitutional.
Learn more about Jo Ann Robinson via the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
In this clip, Rosetta Henderson recalls her participation in the boycott and hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. speak while attending Alabama State:
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